Kwati: Nepali mixed bean soup

This is a guest post I wrote for , Chai- A cup of life, amazing blog I have been following for a while. Thank you so much for the opportunity and sharing the post here.

I would like to introduce you to M who writes her blog called ‘Nepali Australian‘. M is a Nepalese born Australian living in Sydney, an IT Business Analyst who loves blogging, travelling and fashion! We have been following each others blogs for some time now and I love reading about her thoughts, the Nepalese way of life and of course her life in Sydney. Her writings have been published in magazines, newspapers and she has even held her own Nepali Australian ‘Blog Awards 2013′, (which Chai a Cup of Life received an award for- thank you!) Today she is sharing a traditional Nepalese dish called ‘Kwati’. Here it is:

It is really cold in Sydney these days. It is supposed to be autumn but it feels like winter already so I am always looking to cook warm meals for dinner. In Nepal, they have food for every season and Kwatiis especially made during rainy and cold season and is a very popular Nepali soup. Kwati is a traditional Nepalese dish which is a thick stew of several kinds of beans. It is high in protein so it is considered good to be given to sick people to gain strength.

This soup is made during the festival JanaiPurnimain Nepal.Kwati is normally a mix of 9 beans namely, black eye peas, cow peas, black lentils, chickpeas, adzuki, soybeans, mung dal, green peas and favas. But we can use any beans and pluses you have to make this soup. Luckily for me, I found a pre-mixedkwati pack in a Nepali grocery store.

Some people like to sprout it before making it into a soup but I just soaked it overnight and made the soup without sprouting.

Ingredients

200 gm Kwati Mix

1 medium onion sliced

2medium tomatoes diced

1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 tablespoon of red chilli powder

1 tablespoon of garam masala powder

2 tablespoons of oil

3 cups of vegetable /chicken stock

A few bay leaves

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons of ghee

1 teaspoon jwanu (Lovage)

Steps

Wash and soak the Kwati mix overnight and drain the water.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with turmeric powder and bay leaf. Add the chopped onion and fry until it turns golden brown.

Add chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are soft. Make them into a paste.

Add the soaked Kwati mix to the pressure cooker, mix well and add vegetable /chicken stock and cook until 5-7 whistles or until you can smell the beans.

Let it cool in the pressure cooker before you open the lid. As there are different types of beans, test the big ones like broad beans to check if it is cooked properly. The beans must be tender on touch. If it is not cooked enough then press again.

In a pan, heat the ghee.

Once ghee is hot, add jwanu(lovage)and fry for 30 seconds until it is dark brown in colour.

Pour this into the pressure cooker with kwati and mix well.

You could add more water/vegetable /chicken stock depending upon how thick you want the soup.

P.S : If you are not into vegetable soup, you could add cooked/boiled meat into the soup as well. Enjoy a tasty and healthy soup!!